LONDON, UK:  Ed Balls, Britain's Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, formally opened TreeHouse's Pears National Centre for Autism Education on October 7. TreeHouse is the national charity for autism education.

Opening the centre, Balls declared:  "TreeHouse does excellent work providing for children with autism and I am proud to open its new national centre today. I hope the centre will allow TreeHouse to develop its work in promoting better autism provision nationally, supporting parents and helping to unlock the potential of children with autism.

"I want to see the best services for children with autism in all areas of the country and improving provision for children with autism is an important priority. That's why we have increased funding for the Autism Education Trust to work with local authorities and Primary Care Trusts to improve the commissioning of local services for children with autism.  We are also improving the provision of short breaks provision which is very important for children with autism and their families."

(Source: DCSF, October 7, 2009)